The present invention relates to storage packaging and more particularly to a storage package and a method and apparatus of making the same wherein differences in dimension between the outer receptacle and the package to be stored therein are compensated to provide snug storage such as in the packaging of foil-wrapped cigarettes.
It is well known in the art of packaging one or more unit articles in an outer receptacle, such as in the tobacco arts, to utilize spacer members to compensate for dimensional differences between the inner walls of the outer receptacle and the external dimensions of the article or articles to be packaged, attention being directed to U.S. Pat. No. 3,489,272 issued to S. Rosen on Jan. 13, 1970, and to U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,308, issued to C. J. Begemann on Aug. 14, 1973, both of which disclose cartons of cigarettes in which panel spacer members are inserted to compensate for smaller packs to be enclosed within standard-sized cartons. It also is well known in the packaging art to generally assemble at least two stacked items in the same outer receptacle, such as in the cigarette packing machine disclosed by the long-expired U.S. Pat. No. 1,200,227, issued to D. Pantazi on Oct. 3, 1916, in which a coupon or ticket is assembled with a plurality of cigarettes in a pack, and to the more recent U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,126, issued to W. M. Court on Oct. 7, 1973, which relates to an article feeder for a packaging machine in which a leaflet is inserted into an open-ended carton of articles before closing the carton. Further, it is generally well known to cut and corrugate strips of material from a sheet of paper material, attention being directed to U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,155, issued to A. A. Hicks on Jan. 2, 1979. Moreover, it is generally well known to utilize rotary knives to cut continuous sheet materials and to utilize rotary wheels to feed or draw such materials, attention being directed to the two U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,073,485 and 4,113,243, issued to C. G. Gregoire et. al. on Feb. 14, 1978, and Sept. 12, 1978, respectively.
In accordance with the present invention, an efficient, straightforward, comparatively light and inexpensive to manufacture and assemble package structure for storing articles is provided, the inventive structure being particularly suitable for snugly storing foil-wrapped packages of a conventional count of thinner than normal cigarettes in standard-size cigarette packs. In addition, the present invention provides an efficient, straightforward, and comparatively inexpensive method of manufacturing and assembling such package structure with a minimum of steps, as well as an efficiently powered and operative apparatus which can be utilized in accomplishing the inventive method.
Various other advantageous features of the inventive package structure method and apparatus disclosed herein will become obvious to one skilled in the art upon reading the disclosure set forth herein.